Hilfiger estate sold for $45 million
GREENWICH — Designer Tommy Hilfiger and his wife have sold their backcountry French Normandy-style estate in one of the area’s largest-ever home sales — while Hilfiger’s former wife has coincidentally listed her own backcountry home for $40 million.
Listed last year for $47.5 million, the Hilfigers’ six-bedroom house, at 30 John St., had ranked as Greenwich’s mostexpensive residential real estate listing, and it sold for $45 million. The Hilfigers paid $31 million for the 22-acre estate in 2010, according to property records. It sits at the top of Round Hill — the highest point in Greenwich, with vistas of Long Island Sound and the Manhattan skyline.
Janet Milligan, of Sotheby’s International Realty, was the property’s listing agent. Sally Slater, of Douglas Elliman, represented the buyers.
“I am thrilled for the buyers as well as the sellers. The buy
ers are excited to be in Greenwich in such a turn-key, beautiful and historical home,” Slater said.
“The sellers are happy that their home will be loved by this family as much as they loved it themselves.
“There are always buyers for really special, turn-key properties. Over the last few years, I always told buyers that there is only one Greenwich and that when you buy ‘location,’ that segment of the market comes back first.”
The brokers declined to disclose the buyers’ identity, but noted that there were multiple bidders on the property.
Known internationally for his namesake clothing brand, Hilfiger said last year that he and his wife, Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger, were moving to Palm Beach, Fla., a longplanned relocation that was accelerated because of the impact of the coronavirus crisis.
He also said that he had been told by friends in real estate that the market was “very strong.”
The Hilfigers, who have renovated and sold a number of other houses in Greenwich, made extensive improvements on the property.
The upgrades encompassed the mechanics for the 13,300-squarefoot home and a new roof that took three years to build with handmade tiles. They also restored the ceilings, moldings and floors and put in a new chef’s kitchen and new baths.
Accompanying the more formal rooms in the mansion are a theater room, family/game room and lower-level wine cellar and tasting room.
A guest house contains a living room, kitchen, two bedrooms, two baths and a two-bay garage.
The Hilfigers also refurbished the outbuildings, installed a new pool and restored the tennis court.
The grounds feature a fountained rose garden, boxwood knot garden, water garden with fountained koi pond and topiary garden.
In addition, the property includes a detached four-bay garage, greenhouse and a “tea house” that has been converted into a security pavilion.
Designed by architect Greville Rickard and built in 1939 for real estate magnate Charles Paterno, the estate later became the home
of financier and art patron Joseph Hirshhorn, who displayed his art collection and sculpture garden there before donating it to the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C.
Denbigh Farm goes on the market
Susie Hilfiger, the first wife of Tommy Hilfiger, has put her home on the market for $40 million. The approximately 17-acre estate is at 591 Riversville Road, about 1.5 miles west of 30 John St.
Known as Denbigh Farm, it is perched well above sea level, with views of Long Island Sound.
It is anchored by a 14,000square-foot home dating to the late 1700s. It includes seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms and four powder rooms.
It is accentuated by a stepdown drawing room/ball room with a high ceiling, paneling and a marble mantle imported from the 17th century Hotel Particulier Montmartre, the former residence of the Hermes family in Paris.
Other features include English sculptured sunken gardens, “sprawling verdant” lawns, old stone walls, a “sparkling” pool and a tennis court, according to
its listing.
It was once the home of the late Joseph Verner Reed Jr., who served as ambassador to Morocco during President Ronald Reagan’s administration, as chief of protocol under President George H.W. Bush, and also as under-secretary-general at the United Nations.
Janet Milligan is the listing agent for the property at 591 Riversville.
Among other marquee home sales in the area in the past year, a home in Greenwich’s waterfront Belle Haven neighborhood last May sold for about $17 million. It ranked at that point as the largest residential transaction in Connecticut in 2020.